After Sir Joshua Reynolds
Lot Closed
December 15, 04:01 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
After Sir Joshua Reynolds
Portrait of Mary Robinson (1757–1800), half-length, wearing a plumed hat in front a red curtain with a landscape in the distance beyond
inscribed upper left: MRS MARY ROBINSON
oil on canvas
unframed: 76.2 x 63.5 cm.; 30 x 25 in.
framed: 85.4 x 82.5 cm.; 33⅝ x 32½ in.
Possibly Alaric Alexander Watts (1797–1864);
Charles Russell sold by his Executors, London, Sotheby's, 30 November 1960, lot 93 (as William Beechey after Reynolds) for £120;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby’s, 24 November 1999, lot 712;
Anonymous sale, Oxford, Mallams, 7 May 2010, lot 879 (as William Beechey after Reynolds) for £6,500;
Where acquired by the present owner.
This painting is derived from Sir Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Mary Robinson in the Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor.1 Known for her work as an actress on the Georgian stage and as a proto-feminist writer, Mary was also the first official mistress of George, Prince of Wales and later King George IV. In 1960 and 2010 this portrait was given to William Beechey (1753–1839), who was anecdotally said to have painted very convincing copies after Reynolds's compositions.2
1 https://waddesdon.org.uk/mary-darby-mrs-thomas-robinson-perdita-joshua-reynolds/
2 W. Roberts, Sir William Beechey, R.A., London 1907, pp. 70–1, n. 7; A. Watts, The Cabinet of Modern Art, London 1836, pp. 102–3.
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